founder
1 Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
founders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foundered,
past participle, past
-
foundering
present participle
-
(of a ship, boat, etc.) to fill with water and sink.
-
to fall or sink down, as buildings, ground, etc..
Built on a former lake bed, the building has foundered nearly ten feet.
-
to become wrecked; fail utterly.
The project foundered because public support was lacking.
-
to stumble, break down, or go lame, as a horse.
His mount foundered on the rocky path.
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to become ill from overeating.
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Veterinary Pathology. (of a horse) to suffer from laminitis.
verb (used with object)
-
founders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foundered,
past participle, past
-
foundering
present participle
-
to cause to fill with water and sink.
Rough seas had foundered the ship in mid-ocean.
-
Veterinary Pathology. to cause (a horse) to break down, go lame, or suffer from laminitis.
noun
noun
verb
-
(of a ship) to sink
-
to break down or fail
the project foundered
-
to sink into or become stuck in soft ground
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to fall in or give way; collapse
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(of a horse) to stumble or go lame
-
archaic (of animals, esp livestock) to become ill from overeating
noun
noun
noun
Usage
Founder is sometimes wrongly used where flounder is meant: this unexpected turn of events left him floundering (not foundering )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foundersimple
-
founderssimple
-
have founderedperfect
-
has founderedperfect
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am founderingprogressive
-
are founderingprogressive
-
is founderingprogressive
-
have been founderingperfect progressive
-
has been founderingperfect progressive
Past
-
founderedsimple
-
had founderedperfect
-
was founderingprogressive
-
were founderingprogressive
-
had been founderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of founder1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English found(o)ur, foundere, fundre “original builder of a city, church, castle, or city; founder of a country,” from Anglo-French fundur, from Old French fondeor, from Latin fundātōr-, stem of fundātor; see origin at found 1; see also -er 1 ( def. )
Origin of founder2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English foundren, funder, fonder, from Old French fondrer “to plunge to the bottom, submerge,” from Vulgar Latin fundorāre (unattested), derivative of fundor-, an s -stem noun interpreted as stem of Latin fundus, actually an o -stem noun (stem fund- ) “bottom”
Origin of founder3
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English foundour, founder, from Old French fondeur, from fondre “to melt, cast”; see origin at found 3, -er 1
Explanation
The person who creates an organization or a company is known as the founder. Founder is also a verb meaning "fail miserably," which is something a company's founder hopes the company will never do. As a noun, founder means "the beginner or originator of something." You might talk about the founder of a nation, the founder of club, or the founder of a website. As a verb, founder can mean “stumble,” like when you trip and fall, but more generally it means "collapse or fall apart." A sports team might founder by slumping on a ten-game losing streak; a ship that sinks in a bad storm can be said to have foundered at sea.
Vocabulary lists containing founder
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
For generations, descendants of founder George Garvin Brown have run the business, even after they took the company public in 1933.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
“I don’t think it’s impossible,” Ralston, founder and chief executive of the Nevada Independent news site, said of a Democratic upset.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
The founder of World Central Kitchen, Jose Andres, described the decision as "wrong" and "painful for all of us", demanding an independent commission to investigate.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
With this account, however, you can “match” their earnings, said Catherine Valega, a certified financial planner and founder at Green Bee Advisory.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Unarmed and defenseless against enemy fighters or antiaircraft fire, the U-2 was purpose-built to house powerful cameras designed for the CIA by Edwin Land, the founder of the Polaroid Corporation.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
As he researched, Barton said he was shocked to find that the majority of the founders were deeply devout, rather than the religion-shunning men he had learned about.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
The festival’s founders boast quite an industry lineage, having met on the set of a Sofia Coppola movie, where they were production assistants.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Allow illiquid founders to pledge shares with a loan from the government to pay tax,” he wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
For anyone watching founders seemingly blow up on social media overnight, she says it's important to remember that the viral moment is often the part of the story everyone sees rather than the beginning.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Over the course of the next four decades, the national debate over slavery and its expansion into the West was often framed as an argument over the intent of the founders.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
After nearly a year of sailing, the ship struck a reef in heavy storms and foundered on May 21, 1832.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Instead, they foundered in the breeze, squeezing out whatever bitter juice was left in a dirge that would prove to drag on for at least another week.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
In May 1999, Sir Tony Blair received an update from the Treasury, in a document warning that discussions with ICL over the terms of a deal "have foundered".
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2025
The five living presidents who succeeded him, whose own Mideast peace efforts sometimes bore brief fruit but more often foundered, have all paid public tribute to him, in their own ways.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025
The mail foundered with the government; they received no answer.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Though British rule over his home country of Jamaica ended in 1962, independence and economic mismanagement led to high unemployment and a foundering youth culture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
The unusually large, half-point rate reduction is expected to be the first in a series of cuts, aimed at helping keep the economy and the labor market from foundering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2024
What’s more, in the Spy magazine era, Mr. Trump was just a local nuisance, a braggart presiding over a foundering casino-hotel empire.
From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2024
Muti’s relationship with La Scala was foundering, but he hadn’t appeared with the Chicago Symphony since the 1970s.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2023
Cross gales he blew, making me lose my bearings, and heaved up seas beyond imagination— huge and foundering seas.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
